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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

5 Tips for Designing a Contemporary Living Room

Diana Smith is here today on the blog to share her ideas on Designing a Contemporary Living Room. Check out some of these great tips on a balanced room. Thanks Diana for a great article. I look forward to having you guest again soon!

Designing a living room can be a tough job. As the living room is where your family probably spends most of their time, it must be designed in the proper way, so everyone would feel relaxed and happy. Here are 7 design tips that will help you on your way to create a perfect living room, the one that’s both visually and functionally stimulating.

Color matters

Choosing a color palette for your living room is not an easy task. Luckily, you can start by evaluating the living room characteristics. For example, if your living room is bright and airy, the best choice is to go with saturated jewel tones such as slate gray or peacock blue. When a living room is predominantly dark, you can paint the walls using soft and neutral colors such as white, cream, beige, or earthly green. Those colors can visually enlarge the room. Also, in combination with brown or lavender furniture, beige or white walls will make your living room look high-priced and extravagant.

Flooring

When choosing the right flooring for your living room, you’ll need to take into account the style of the house, the budget, and the feel you want to create. Here you have a variety of options – from standard wood flooring, laminate, linoleum, to stone or concrete. Each type of these materials has its pros and cons, so think carefully what kind of atmosphere you want to achieve in your living room. Besides the material, you’ll have to choose the right color. As the room’s walls, the best advice here is to go with neutral colors allowing furniture or artworks to capture the eye.

Artworks

Probably the best way to personalize the space of your living room is to hang some artwork on the walls. Modern artwork varies greatly, so you have the option to choose between different styles, from abstract multicolored art to more minimalist and monochromatic. Artwork allows you to be inventive with the space and your living room can easily become the extension of your distinct personality.

Lights

Lighting in your living room can also make a huge difference. It can impact everything from your sleep schedule to your overall mood. When choosing the right lamp, keep in mind that the living room is predominantly a room for company, conversation and family time. Probably the best solution here is to combine floor lamps for your main ambient lighting with the right accent lighting for highlighting your wall’s artworks and photos. Keep in mind that bad lighting can make your living room very unattractive, so take your time and choose the lighting wisely.

Furniture and electronic devices

In choosing furniture pieces for your living room, start with the basic pieces such as sofa, armchair, center and side tables. Look around your living room and figure out the right size of furniture you’ll need for certain functions. You can make a sketch of it on a piece of paper with passable pathways and electronic devices you’ll use. Everything in your living room, including furniture and electronic appliances such as television set or stereo music system, should complement each other. After choosing the right screen size, TV antenna installation, and viewing distance, you can transform your living room into a complete entertainment center. In combination with the right furniture, electronics play a very important role in improving the living room’s visual appearance and can make your room livelier and enjoyable place.

As you know by now, there are various ways you can make your living room look elegant and well designed. The point with decorating contemporary living rooms is finding the right balance between functionality and elegance. Incorporating these tips into your design will certainly help you accomplish that balance.